ALU Math & Number Fun

Price: -
Free

Teacher Overview

An simple and fun way to practise maths skills

Teacher Review

ALU Math & Number Fun is a simple game for practising number and maths skills. The premise of each level is uncomplicated - use all the given digits along with any required operations to reach a target number at the bottom of the screen. You can choose from several different levels to start at - the easiest having simple single-operation solutions and the most difficult level having target numbers that may or may not be reachable, adding an extra challenge for users who want it. Due to the differentiation of levels in this way, the app is suitable for a very wide range of users - from primary school children just starting out with adding and times tables through to adults looking to hone their mental abilities.

The graphics and sound effects within the app are fairly low-key, but this does mean that navigation around the app is very clear and an included short demo is all that is required to understand everything you need to know about playing the game. There are two main ways to play the game - either using one of the five main difficulty levels or in “times tables” mode, where you can concentrate on questions from a times table between 2 and 12, or choose random times tables. In either of these modes, it is easy to see how their would be opportunities to link the game with numeracy and mathematics curricula.

The game encourages and motivates by timing each level, making it a challenge to beat your own time for each. There are also achievement trophies to unlock, adding an extra motivational feature. The downside is that in order to keep track of progress for each player, you have to sign in and out to different Google accounts. In a school where dozens of children use tablets, this might make it rather hard to keep track of progress for each individual - especially when it is not the norm for school children to have their own Google IDs to sign in with. In this way, the game would become more educationally useful if there were an optional and more informal way of setting up a number of players on the device, without having to log in and out of Google accounts.

Overall though, this game should help make it fun for a wide range of players to improve their number skills and mathematical fluency.

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Developer Description

It's so simple... get to the target number using the supplied set of numbers on the right in combination with the mathematical operators on the left. The only requirement is that you must use all of the numbers in your answer.

There are five different levels, the first four of which it is guaranteed that you can reach the target number... the fifth level... well, it is for you to work out if it is possible! Number splits provide an extra twist to the game!

A special times table feature helps you practice your mental arithmetic from the 2 times table up to the 12 times table, with achievements unlocked if you beat a target time.

Leaderboards help you measure your progress and compete with others in your social circles or with everyone else playing around the world - discover how you rank globally!

The initial installed app is a trial version with the only difference to the full version being that for some levels (medium, hard and solvable, and certain times tables) you are limited to the number of games you can play before a timeout period. A simple, one time in app purchase removes this limitation forever.